Exploring How Bi + People Differently Experience Minority Stress Events According to the Gender of Their Partner/s

Minority stress models have been used to explain disproportionately poor psychological and well-being outcomes for bi + people. That is, an established evidence base documents that bi + people consistently experience health and wellbeing disparities (compared to heterosexual and to lesbian and gay people) because they of their experiences of prejudice and erasure from each of these groups. Little is known about the role that a bi + person’s partner/s plays in shaping their experiences of minority stress—in particular, the gender of the partner can frame the relationship as either heteronormative-presenting or queer-presenting, meaning the gender of the partner has the potential to be both protective and a risk factor. This article presents the findings of a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with 22 bi + people in Australia, with diversity across gender and relationship configurations. These interviews took place during a specific minority stress event—the Australian marriage equality debate. The analysis led to the identification of three key themes: (1) erasure of bi + identities (with subthemes of self-erasure and interpersonal invalidation); (2) visibility and disclosure of bi + identities; and (3) social connection as both protective and challenging. Findings relating to partner-gender and minority stress were discussed within this framework.